Posted 6 years ago
fortapache
(3416 items)
A double douse of Mini-Planes tonight! This is another pre/early WWII fighter plane. This was a plane that on paper was rather lacking but ended up being quite successful. It was actually considered inferior to the Brewster Buffalo and much inferior to the Japanese Zero which was much faster and more maneuverable. But it had self sealing fuel tanks and armor for the pilot. It was hard to shoot down while the Zero had a major allergy to being hit. Anyway it ended up being the mainstay of the USN in early WWII. Production stopped in 1943 when it was replaced by the Hellcat.
As for this model the most interesting feature is the prewar paint scheme. Quite colorful in contrast to the flat navy blue normally seen. I think this is an early model Mini-plane. The only moving part is the propeller and there are no wing guns. Their Corsair model has folding wings and landing gear plus missiles and guns. This one is quite colorful though.
I like these Bachmans. It's nice to see they used the cool between war colors also. Like you said, it was outclassed by a lot of aircraft, but the Grumman "cat" fighters were rugged and could get you back home, when a Jap plane would be in flames with as much damage. Joe Foss and other pilots, using group tactics scored an amazing number of victories in it and that was against the early superior Japanese pilots, not the Turkey Shoot cannon fodder ones rushed into combat later on. It's the hand cranked landing gear of the F3F you posted. The little plane that could. A side note, the green tail surfaces indicate it was in a group on the USS Ranger.
Ach, hand cranked gear. I had forgotten about them. Thanks Toy. I'll have to start all over again forgetting. LOL ! And then, there were the parking brake type lever like on early Mooneys that took 2 people to pull it up !
Some pilot took off from a carrier during The Battle of the Coral Sea, I believe. The carrier group was under attack, he cranked up his gear while simultaneously firing at Jap planes, he got shot down about the time he got his gear up but managed to pancake safely. It's one of, if not the shortest sortie in history. In the same battle, at dusk, a group of Japanese Vals tried to land.... on the Yorktown!! Both sides were so surprised that the planes were gone before anyone could fire at them.
We accidentally landed at the wrong airport in The Dominican Republic once. That's a big no-no in the Caribbean & the interrogation lasted about an hour. Bet those Japs had to do their laundry after they realized what that almost did.
You need to DEFINITELY know where you're landing at in the Caribbean. I just noticed something, the Wildcat has a four bladed prop? I'm only aware of three bladed ones.
Thank you very much Toyrebel. I left out the Thatch Weave and few other things like how the wings fold to the side instead of folding up. Thank you for the additional info.
Thank you very much BB2. If recall correctly these wobble a bit when taking off as they crank up the landing gear.
And yes it should be a 3 bladed prop.
Thank you
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